Hooray JB Weld, plus a lock question!

[Bramstedt]

All,
Had a leak from one of the heads. Pulled it and filled the slight pitting with JB weld. Sanded it down and reinstalled. 250 miles later and no trouble! Thanks for all the info, made burping the radiator so much less mysterious. I have an 87 Wolfsburg with power locks. As I understand, the driver lock should function as a master control unit. Sadly, you must turn the key outside to unlock while keeping it turned to get the door open. The lock, with the door open, stays unlocked, but immediately upon shutting, locks itself. Getting out requires you to pull up on the lock stem thing while opening the door. Now that I am used to doing this, how do I fix it? The other doors operate like manual locks, no relocking or other badness. (Yes, I pulled the door apart and its a power lock). Heck, I would be happy to just get rid of the self locking behavior. Don't think it is using power to lock (no electric click), more of a mechanical meltdown.

Brian-

[Taylor L]

I used to run small engines on propane all the time. Propane would be the true test of a small engine, as it runs hotter than gasoline and on an aircooled engine that is no small deal.

On the Briggs engines, I would have trouble with the valve seats coming out. I started sticking the seats back in with J.B. Weld. I never had one come back out.

Taylor

Final results of the "tested under fire," propane test.

Best of the U.S.
Kohler, Onan

Worst of the U.S.
Tecumseh (absolute trash)
Briggs and Stratton

Best of the Japanese
Honda
Kawasaki (the best)

the flat head moters wouldn't hold up at all, the overhead valve engines did much better.

Taylor

p.s. J.B. Weld was the best thing ever invented.

[larrytrk]

Passangers door lock is probably interfering with the system. You should be able to lock/unlock all doors from either front door. If one of the actuators is
electronically stuck it will fight with the other door lock.
_________________
It's all in your mind.
I Hate BAMBI!
87 Westy full camper "Bluie" aka-"busturd"
JUST SOLD HER, WESTYLESS!
Good by cruel world!

[stumpy]

Speaking of power locks---- Sounds like all late models have the same problem sooner or later. My '90 got the "lock syndrum". I believe the problem may be the actuator. Sometime ago someone said that the eurovan uses the same actuators. I have yet to check that out. There is an excellent writeup on the central locking system at Go Westie!

[Bramstedt]

Good tip on the gowesty article. It seems that the system is dead, doing nothing. With the passenger door locked or not, the driver door will lock when closed. I will pull it apart tonight and check those yellow and white wires for juice, thanks for the help.

Brian-

[Tomswesty]

My 87 did the same thing, had to finally get new (used) actuators one for each of the front doors. Haven't had problems since.
_________________
87 Westy
2.2L Suby convert